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Regulators consider adding more carmakers to Takata recall

Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal has been getting a lot of press recently, but the Takata airbag inflator affair could be grabbing headlines again soon. According to Bloomberg, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is contemplating an expansion to the campaign that could add seven automakers to the 12 already affected. They are Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Spartan Motors, Suzuki, Tesla, Volvo Trucks, and VW Group. To be clear, there's no recall for any of these automakers, yet. The government is simply asking for a full list of vehicles that each of them have with Takata-supplied inflators containing ammonium nitrate propellant. The agency is concerned this substance could play a roll in the ruptures. "NHTSA is considering not only whether to issue an administrative order that would coordinate the remedy programs associated with the current Takata recalls, but also whether such an order should include expansion of the current recalls," the letters say. All seven can be viewed, here. From a report supplied by Takata, the government already knows that the company supplied 887,055 inflators with ammonium-nitrate propellant to VW and 184,926 of them to Tesla. In an incident during the summer, a side airbag allegedly burst in a 2015 VW Tiguan. In early September, NHTSA put out a revised report that there were 23.4 million inflators to be replaced in 19.2 million vehicles in the US. An earlier accounting from the agency had about 34 million of the parts in 30 million cars. High humidity is still believed to be among the biggest risk factors for the ruptures. Although, if ammonium nitrate also gets the blame, some already recalled models might need to be repaired again. Related Video:

VW Beetle R is one mean bug

Volkswagen's R lineup currently consists of the Golf R in North America, and the too-cool-for-school Scirocco R in Europe. It hasn't exactly been a secret as to which VW would next get the R treatment; the German manufacturer reportedly confirmed that a hotter Beetle would be coming to the US. That announcement, in August 2011, was followed up by a production-ready Beetle R Concept at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show.
After some wait, we're finally seeing spy shots of the Beetle R in Germany. The mule shown in the images here is wearing the R-Line bodykit, which adds sportier front and rear fascias, side skirts, dual exhausts and a not-so-subtle spoiler. Topped off with Volkswagen's traditional, five-spoke R wheels, we'd be just fine with the Beetle R coming to market as is.
Our spy photographer, though, seems to think that the production R will get even sportier sheetmetal, which we take to mean the more assertive look shown on the Frankfurt show car. Larger intakes on the front fascia, a bigger rear spoiler and vertical vents on the rear bumper could all be upcoming. Whether a production model will include the concept's polished wheels (R cars haven't traditionally embraced that look), vented hood and the quad-tipped exhausts remains to be seen.

VW CEO under fire after emissions scandal, stock slide

Pressure piled on the head of Volkswagen on Monday in the wake of an emissions-testing scandal that's seen around 15 billion euros ($16.9 billion) wiped off the company's market value. Following revelations that the German carmaker had rigged US emissions tests for about 500,000 diesel cars, VW CEO Martin Winterkorn apologized Sunday for the fact that his company had "broken the trust of our customers and the public." But saying sorry wasn't enough for investors as they digested the financial and reputational implications of the scandal on the world's biggest carmaker by sales – in mid-afternoon trading in Frankfurt, Volkswagen's share price was down a stunning 17.8 percent at a near three-year low of 132.15 euros. Earlier it had tumbled by more than 20 percent. In the wake of Friday's revelations from the US's Environmental Protection Agency, VW has already halted sales of some vehicles in the US and pledged to cooperate with regulators in an investigation that could, in theory, see the company fined up to $18 billion. Industry analysts said the VW CEO faces difficult questions in the coming days, particularly when the company's board is scheduled to meet Friday. "At the moment, I'd be surprised if Winterkorn can ride this out." - Christian Stadler "At the moment, I'd be surprised if Winterkorn can ride this out, but in Germany there's often a slightly slower process in these matters," said Christian Stadler, a professor of strategic management at Warwick Business School who researches the car industry. Stadler said that if VW were a US company, then the CEO would have gone more or less immediately. In essence, Volkswagen stands accused of skirting the US's clean air rules. The EPA said VW used a device programmed to detect when the cars are undergoing official emissions testing. The software device then turns off the emissions controls during normal driving situations, allowing the cars to emit more than the legal limit of pollutants. Guido Reinking, a German auto expert, said that for a company to engage in such blatant trickery the company's top executives would have to be informed. Winterkorn, an engineer by training, led research and development across the VW group from 2007. He became chairman of the management board the same year. "It's almost impossible to imagine that he didn't know about this special way of programming the engine," Reinking told German television station n-tv.